See how different plants that grow in Toronto (AgCanada hardiness zone 6; USDA zone 5) look all year round and at different stages in their life cycles.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Equisetum arvense

Equisetum arvense, known in English as "field horsetail" or "common horsetail" and in Frence as prêle des champs, queue de rat, queue de renard or queue de cheval, is a perennial native to much of North America. The horsetails have been around a very very long time; in fact, they have been growing on earth for 200 million years, well before the time of the dinosaurs. If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the two types of stalks. The brown stalks with light coloured bumpy things at the top produce spores; the feathery green stalks are sterile.

Equisetum arvense likes to grow in moist areas. I photographed these plants in Wilket Creek Park.